Distraught parents Dennis and Mary O'Brien want to know why
their son Dennis Jnr became one of over 4,000 U.S. servicemen whose
deaths have been classified as suicide since 1980.

The 2l-year-old Irish-born seaman, described by his superior as an
ideal candidate for officers' training school, was found lying on
the deck of the nuclear submarine USS Los Angeles. He died from a bullet
wound to the head.

The O'Briens, immigrants from Limerick who settled in
Providence, Pennsylvania, have discovered it all started when their son
was presented with his submarine warfare pin by the ship's
commander on the pier at Pearl Harbour.

After the ceremony, friends took part in an old ritual - punching
and slapping Dennis' newly acquired badge, a silver coloured
dolphin pin.

The so-called `hazing' was enough to bruise his chest.

Although Dennis didn't complain, the submarine's
chief-of-boat triggered an investigation when he noticed the bent
dolphins.

He announced over the vessel's public address system that
those involved in the ritual would be punished and shore leave was
cancelled. At a subsequent inquiry, two sailors said they'd lightly
tapped the dolphins in a congratulatory manner - but that didn't
end the probe.

O'Brien, who admitted he'd been threatened by his pals if
he gave their names, refused. He said: "If someone calls me a
snitch, then I'm never going to be able to work with anybody on
this boat again."

With the Navy's new zero tolerance policy on hazing being
enforced to the letter, the culprits would have been dismissed from the
service.

On the last day of his life, just five days after the pin ceremony,
Dennis heard the vessel's executive officer tell the crew that
O'Brien and others "know the truth...but are not man enough to
come forward".

Dennis was assigned that night to patrol the deck. He was later
found with a head wound, his gun in his hand.

"The Navy killed my son," says Mary O'Brien.
"If Dennis had an obligation to give them names, and he did not, he
should have been punished.

"But he should not have been persecuted by the top brass. He
never was a snitch."